A Miami high school student is speaking out after she was the center of a racist verbal attack by one of her classmates during their online class meeting.
According to NBC Miami, Jasmine Williams, a freshman at Miami Senior High School, says she was called the N-word by another student during their Zoom meeting and the teacher did nothing about it. Besides being verbally attacked, Williams’ attorney says they have a screenshot of the racial slur being sent in the Zoom chat 28 consecutive times.
Nicole Crooks, Williams’ mother, says she alerted the principal after the teacher did not discipline the student.
“To be told by the principal that he would need to find out the context in which the N-word was used in order to start looking into it signifies an even bigger and more widespread issue than I ever even could have imagined,” Crooks said.
Williams no longer feels safe at the school. Her mother says she wants the administrators to step up and do something — not just for the good of her daughter, but also for the other student who used the racial slur.
“To think about the anger and the hurt and the pain that that child is going through, that would make them do something like that,” Crooks said. “And to have that classroom full of students…they took on that trauma too. They experienced that, and nobody’s addressing any of it.”
On Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 20), Miami-Dade County Public Schools released a statement about the incident.
“Miami-Dade County Public Schools is obviously disheartened to learn about this incident as we strongly believe that every child should feel a sense of belonging and acceptance,” the statement read. “As such, the District continues to foster teaching and learning environments that embrace and celebrate the diversity of our students, workforce, and community. Although we cannot provide further comment due to potential litigation, our commitment to promoting racial equality and social justice has not wavered.”